Review: THE GOVERNESS OF HIGHLAND HALL / by Carrie Turansky

Award-winning author Carrie Turansky writes historical fiction set on a 1911 English grand estate. It tells the story of former missionary who accepts work as a governess to support her family.

Julia Foster, missionary to India, is forced to return with her family due to her father’s recent illness. In The Governess of Highland Hall, she takes on the responsibility of supporting her family financially by accepting work as governess to two young children and two teenage girls at Sir Ramsey’s estate. Though not trained as a governess, she has experience in ministering to young girls in India. However, teaching her charges proves to more challenging than she expected, yet she is determined to be kind-hearted and faithful in her duties.

She deals with Sir William Ramsey, a widowed master who appears more preoccupied with saving his estate from ruin, than spending time with the children. Both are determined to do what it takes to save their families. As they get to know one another, their feelings grow, while others try to thwart their sweet romance.

The reader enters the world of Edwardian England where a governess is neither a family member nor a servant, where family estates hang in the balance, where friendship and betrayal lurk. Turansky does an excellent job of providing rich narratives and likeable characters in this work. The reader will easily be transported back in time and enjoy this story, as well as the others coming in this series.

Recommended for public collections and school libraries. It will appeal especially to fans of the PBS television series, Downton Abbey, especially in the description of the Highland Hall and its various characters.